{"id":15568,"date":"2018-12-13T16:26:55","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T21:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=15568"},"modified":"2018-12-13T16:26:55","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T21:26:55","slug":"goodbye-tanner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=15568","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye Tanner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Roark<\/a>

Roark parts ways with the club. Photo via milb.com<\/p><\/div>\n

The rumors ended up being true.\u00a0 The Washington Nationals, who have traded away half a dozen top pitching prospects in the past few years and who have now cut ties with an additional half dozen starters just since the trade deadline of 2018, have traded away their #4 starter\u00a0Tanner Roark<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Their return?\u00a0\u00a0Tanner Rainey<\/strong>, a 25yr old RHP 8th inning type who apparently throws hard, just finished his age 25 season,\u00a0 has 5 years of control, and got shelled in his MLB debut last year.<\/p>\n

I dunno; why exactly did the team make this move?\u00a0 Was it a salary dump?\u00a0 Was the prospect of paying Roark a projected $9.8M too much to stomach, given that he’s provided just slightly worse than league average pitching over the past two seasons?\u00a0 I guess so.\u00a0 Was it worth the return?\u00a0 I mean, a AAA reliever isn’t exactly something to write home about, so its kind of clear that moving the salary was more important here.<\/p>\n

But why would a team that has practically no SP depth … get rid of its 4th best starter?\u00a0 A guy who eats innings, who never gets hurt, who has shown flashes of brillance in the past, and who represents one of the best player development\/low-end acquisitions in the history of the franchise?<\/p>\n

Here’s all the starters the team has parted ways with just since the beginning of last season: Gio Gonzalez, Jeremy Hellickson, A.J. Cole, Edwin Jackson, Tommy Milone, Jefry Rodriguez<\/strong> and now Roark.<\/p>\n

here’s all the starting pitching prospects the team has shed since the 2016 Winter Meetings shock\u00a0Adam Eaton<\/strong> move:\u00a0McKenzie Mills, Tyler Watson, Mick VanVossen, Jesus Luzardo, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Dane Dunning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I mean, that’s a lot of arms now out of the system.\u00a0 And now the team needs to augment in the FA market.<\/p>\n

Implications of the move:<\/p>\n